Method for dyeing and treating textile material



J1me 1964 T. v. MGCLURE ETAL 3,

METHOD FOR DYEING AND TREATING TEXTILE MATERIAL Filed Dec. 27, 1961 3Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG.

33A A 13 TQM INVENTORS THOMAS V. MC CLURE JOHN MC NUTT HARRY L. MORGANROBERT E. OBERHOLTZER June 16, 1964 T. V. M CLURE ETAL METHOD FOR DYEINGAND TREATING TEXTILE MATERIAL Filed Dec. 27. 1961 FIG. IC

3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS THOMAS v. MC CLURE JOHN Mc NUTT HARRY L;MORGAN ROBERT E .'OBERHOLTZER BY 342C w- /W June 16, 1964 v. MCCLUREETAL METHOD FOR DYEING AND TREATING TEXTILE MATERIAL 5 Sheets-Sheet 3Filed Dec.

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. 3,137,056 METHOD FQR DYElNG AND TREATING p 1 TEXTILE MATERIAL ThomasV. McClure and John McNutt, Lexington, Va., Harry L. Morgan,(Iollegeville, Pan, and Robert E. Uberholtzer, Lexington, Va., assignorsto James Lees and Sons Company, Bridgeport, Pan, a corporation ofDelaware Filed Dec. 27, 1961, Ser. No. 162,453 15-Claims. (Cl. 28-75)This'invention relates to the dyeing of yarn and more particularly to animproved apparatus and method for dyeing and treating roving and/ oryarns of continuous filament synthetic fiber.

In the processing and dyeing of continuous filament yarns it becomesof-major importance to provide a fast, highly flexible pad dyeingoperationfortreating two or w more groups or rovings of approximately28-30 yarn ends simultaneously. In the manufacture of soft floorcoverings the well-known procedures for stock dyeing and skein dyeingnatural fibers are too slow and expensive to be used satisfactorily forcertain types of synthetic yarns currently popular in these fabrics. Acontrolled semicontinuous dyeing'o'peration gives far superior dyeingcharacteristics, reduces waste, and greatly expedites the yarn handlingoperation. The yarn packages as received from the yarn manufacturer canbe taken directly from a creel, introduced into a padder, and-then woundon beams, or otherwise prepared for further spinning or twisting of theyarn. The most important requirement in the dyeing and treatment ofcontinuous filament yarn resides in the fact'that the bulk or crimpproduced in this .yarn when manufactured must be retained during theapplication of the dye and later processing steps. If excess tension isapplied to such bulked or crimped yarn at elevated temperatures, thecrimp will be removed. The yarn, .therefore, must be handled underconditions of relaxed tension, particularly during the steamingoperation. .The requirements for processing a crimped synthetic yarn,such as nylon, preclude satisfactory employ ment of either stock orskein dyeing since the raw material as 'supplied by the manufacturer isnot in condition to be stock dyed and the skein dyeing in accordancewith known equipment is too slow, expensive, and will not satisfactorilyretain the desired bulk or crimp.

The present invention accomplishes the most satisfactory dyeing andtreatment of a bulked continuous filament synthetic yarn, such as nylon,without injuring the yarn or removing the pre-set crimp characteristic.Furthermore, a preferred form of the present invention has a distinctadvantage as compared to a completely continuous system because a brokenend in the wet processing section does not require shutting down thepadding equipment and vice versa. A sectionalized system in accordancewith the present invention provides the maximum overall efliciency andproper production of the material.

A primary object of the invention, therefore, is to provide an improvedmethod for dyeing and'treating running lengths of textile yarn.

United States Patent 3,137,056 Patented June 16, 1964 'ice A furtherobject of the invention is to provide a completely continuous system fordyeing, steaming, Wet processing, and dryingrunning lengths ofbulked'continuous filament yarn.

Further objects will be apparent from the specification and drawings inwhich:

FlGURES la-lc show a schematic representation of the yarn processingsteps in accordance with the present invention, and

FIGURE 2Jis a schematic diagram of a continuous yarn-dyeing and steamingapparatus. p

The invention comprises the continuous running of-a roving of yarn fromyarn packages on a creel to a padder and thence to a plurality ofwheeled, perforated yarn trucks. Preferably the roving is divided intotwo groups so that two trucks are fed simultaneously. These trucks arethen inserted bodily into an autoclave where the yarn is steamed whilein a relaxed condition. The trucks are then transferred to an unloadingstation where the roving is continuously removedand opened up. A seriesof Wet processing treatments are given to the yarn and these maycomprise an acid bath, a water bath, and an antistat bath. Dependingupon the type of yarn and the dye, one or more of the liquid-treatingbaths may be omitted. The

roving is then separated into individual yarns, fed through a drier, andfrom the drier each individual yarn passes through a delivery-tube andis deposited into a can. In the efficient dyeing and treating ofsynthetic yarn, it is important that the yarn pattern in both the trucksand the'cans be such that the yarn can be removed therefrom atrelatively high speed without rupturing or snarling. For this purposethe yarn trucks, which in the specification will be called the autoclavetrucks, are mounted upon a carriage to which there is imparted anoscillating motion in one direction and a stepped or intermittent motionin a direction to the oscillating motion. In the case of the finaldelivery into the yarn cans, the feeding equipment is given a composite,planetary motion which serves to form layers of yarn in the cans. Asmentioned above, there is an advantage in processing the bulkedcontinuous filament yarn by interrupting thev continuous travel of theyarns and performing the steaming operation at this point ofinterruption. However, in a modified form, it is possible to utilize acontinuous steamer in which'the yarn is loosely festooned over a seriesof gradually progressing bars in a steam chamber. The introduction andremoval of the yarn in this chamber progresses at a rate sufiicientlyslow to permit adequate steam treatment.

Referring now more particularly to the'drawings, the yarn to be dyed andliquid-treated is fed from yarn packages in a creel, shown generally at20, over a feed roller 21 and into the padder 22 which comprises aseries of squeeze rolls 23, 24, and 25, a dye trough 26, and the diproll 27. After "leaving the padder, which may be constructed inaccordance with the detailed showing in application Serial No. 54,735,filed September 8, 1960, the yarn ends, in the form of two separategroups or rovings, pass over a series of arcuately concave spools 30,3t) which deliver the separate rovings R1 and R2 into each 'of twoautoclave trucks 31 through funnels 32, 32. The autoclave trucks areprovided with suitable grooved wheels 33, 33 which roll on tracks 34 ina manner to be more fully described hereinafter. It is of importance toinsure that the rovings be deposited in the autoclave trucks so thatthey can quickly be removed without any interference or snarling. Oncompletion of each pass the carriage on which the trucks are mountedshifts longitudinally a pre-determined increment so that the rovings arezig-zagged back and forth in the truck to provide a substantially evenlayer. After the carriage has completed one full longitudinal pass todeposit a layer of zig-zag roving on the bottom of the truck, thecarriage returns in equal increments of movement until each truck issubstantiafly full.

After each of the trucks 31 has been filled, the truck is then removedfrom the oscillating carriage and transferred to an autoclave 4i]whereupon empty trucks can immediately be positioned beneath the funnels32, 32. The truck sides are perforated as shown at 41 in FIG- URE 1A topermit adequate penetration of the steam to all the yarn. After suitablesteam treatment in the autoclave, the truck is removed to the positionshown at the left of FIGURE 13 whereupon the roving is Withdrawn fromthe truck over a series of guide rollers or guides 42, 43, and 44. Fromthence the individual ends of each roving are separated by passing overand under two pairs of biased thread-advancing rollers 45 and 46. Arevolving yarn opener or beater 47 is positioned between groups of theyarn ends to maintain their separation. The yarns then pass throughsuitable drop wires 48 positioned over an electrode 49 to detect anybroken ends or improperly tensioned yarns. From thence the yarns arecarried through the first liquid-treating padder 50 having a series ofupper rollers 51, 51 and a series of submerged rollers 52, 52. A bank ofsqueeze rollers 53 carries yarns out of the bath 50, delivers them tothe second bath 55 which may be identical to the first bath and havingupper rollers 51a, 51a and submerged rollers 52a, 52a and squeezerollers 53a. Additional liquid treatments as, for example, antistatapplications and rinses, may be applied by means of furtherliquid-treating baths, such as bath 56, which in turn has upper rollers51b, 51b submerged rollers 52b, 52b, and squeeze rollers 53b.

After the passing through the appropriate liquid treatment apparatus,the yarn ends are 'fed through a drier assembly 58 which comprises afirst pair of control rollers 59 and suitable direction reversingrollers 60, 61, 62, and 63. Drive rollers 64 then feed the yarn over ayarn guide 65 from whence each individual end is carried through an airjet tube assembly 66, 66 for delivery of each end into one of the yarncans 67, 67. The air jets 66, 66 are mounted on a movable framework towhich a planetary motion is imparted but which provides a particularadvantage in that each yarn end is supplied to a can in overlappingsymmetrical layers. The individual yarn ends deposited in the cans 67,67 are each designated with reference number 68 and the control andmovement of each of these yarn ends 68 is identical so that thedescription of one applies to all.

After the yarn ends have been opened up as described above, they aregiven a series of liquid treatments which may include an acid treatmentapplied in bath 50 (FIG- URE 1B), a rinsing bath 55, and the applicationof a suitable size or antistat liquid in bath 56. The liquid treatingbaths 50, 55, and 56 are conventional in design and operation and inthemselves form no part of the present invention.

Under circumstances where it may be considered desirable to use acompletely continuous yarn dyeing and processing sylstem, a steamchamber shown schematically in FIGURE 2 may be substituted for theautoclave. In this case the yarn ends coming from the padder 22 arecarried over a guide 250 from which they are fed through interdigitatingfeed heaters 251 and 252. A steam chamber 253 is provided with a meansfor advancing the yarn through the chamber 253 in a relaxed orrelatively untensioned condition. As the chains carry the yarn festoonsthrough the steam chamber, the yarns are with- 4 drawn therefrom bymeans of pair of driven nip rollers 264 and 265. The yarns are thencarried over a guide 266 and into one or more liquid treating baths 267of the type described above and thence through the drier 58 whereuponthey may be wound on a beam 268 for further utilization.

The present invention achieves substantially more efiicient and uniformtreatment of continuous filament yarns both in the continuous andsemi-continuous forms as compared to a strictly batch process. Theelimination of manual handling of the rovings reduces snagging andpermits the rapid treatment of the yarns without shut-down due to brokenends of other conditions prevalent in the handling continuous filamentsynthetic yarns. This improvement is noticeably more beneficial in thecase of bulked or crimped yarns which, if anything, have a greatertendency to snag. The dyeing and subsequent steam treatment of theseyarns under relaxed tension is an important feature of the invention andpermits a far better product to be obtained and at much higher rates ofproduction.

Having thus described our invention, we claim:

1. The method of continuously treating running lengths of textile yarnswhich comprises the steps of introducing said running lengths into a dyebath, removing excess amounts of dye liquor from said running lengths,feeding each of said lengths into a container in even linear layers,steaming said running lengths under conditions of relaxed tension,removing the lengths from the containers, separating each length intoindividual yarns, applying a liquid treatment to said separated yarns,drying the yarns, and continuously supplying each of said yarns to ayarn takeup device.

2. The method of treating running lenghts of continuous filament bulkedfibers which comprises the steps of introducing said running lengthsinto a dye bath, removing excess amounts of dye liquor from said runninglengths, feeding each of said lengths into a container in even linearlayers, steaming said running lengths under conditions of relaxedtension, removing the lengths from the containers, separating eachlength into individual yarns, applying a liquid treatment to saidseparated yarns, drying the yarns, and continuously supplying each ofsaid yarns to a yarn take-up device.

3. The method of claim 2 in which the container for steaming the yarnsis oscillated in linear paths to each other.

4. The method of claim 2 in which the separated yarns are given an acidbath.

5. The method of claim 2 in which the separated yarns are given anantistat bath.

6. The method of claim 2 in which the separated yarns are given an acidbath, a rinse bath, and an antistat bath.

7. The method of claim 2 in which the yarns are continuously supplied inlayers into yarn cans by means of a planetary motion.

8. The method of claim 2 in which the yarns are taken up by means ofwinding them on beams.

9. The method of claim 2 in which all of the steps are performed incontinuous sequence.

10. The method of claim 2 in which the yarn is dyed and deposited in thecontainers in a continuous sequential operation and subsequently removedfrom the containers and supplied to the take-up device in continuoussequence.

11. A method of treating a running length of bulked fibers whichcomprises the steps of immersing said fibers in a dye bath, removingexcess amounts of the dye liquor 12. The method of claim 11 wherein thefibers are References Cited in the file of this patent spun into aseries of yarns and the yarns are grouped into UNITED STATES PATENTSrovings before immersion in the dye bath.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein the rovings are 2342746 lMasland 1944Separated into individual yarns before passing through the 5 2,3 67730Masland 1945 drying Zone 2,504.133 Craft Apr. 18, 1950 23 092 S encerFeb. 11 1958 14. The method of cla m 11 in which all of the steps 2,8 p1 are performed in continuous sequence. 2826479 Cole 1958 15. The methodof claim 11 in which the yarn is dyed 2,863,208 Dmmmund at V- 1958 anddeposited in the containers in continuous sequence 10 2895210 HubbardJuly 1959 and subsequently removed from the containers and de- 2,971,244Feller et 1961 posited into the receptacles in continuous sequence.3021587 Rudbarg 1962

1. THE METHOD OF CONTINUOUSLY TREATING RUNNING LENGTHS OF TEXTILE YARNSWHICH COMPRISES THE STEPS OF INTRODUCING SAID RUNNING LENGTHS INTO A DYEBATH, REMOVING EXESS AMOUNTS OF DYE LIQUOR FROM SAID RUNNING LENGTHS,FEEDING EACH OF SAID LENGTHS INTO A CONTAINER IN EVEN LINEAR LAYERS,STEAMING SAID RUNNING LENGTHS UNDER CONDITIONS OF RELAXED TENSION,REMOVING THE LENGTHS FROM THE CONTAINERS, SEPARATING EACH LENGTH INTOINDIVIDUAL YARNS, APPLYING A LIQUID TREATMENT TO SAID SEPARATED YARNS,DRYING THE YARNS, AND CONTINUOUSLY SUPPLYING EACH OF SAID YARS TO A YARNTAKEUP DEVICE.